Tag Archives: Otaku

Yes, it’s that time of year again when we all get excited as the Madman Anime Festival rolls into Melbourne for 2017. Last year was the debut of the festival, put together by Australia’s largest distributor of quality anime, manga and heaps more otaku goodies, Madman. 2017 also saw the festival branch out to Perth and Brisbane before hitting up Melbourne for the last local convention of the year.

Japandaman will be at both days joined by Japandaman.com editor, Farrah! We’ll be doing our weeb best to bring you pictures and videos of all the fun and action going down over the weekend. Make sure you check out our social media links below and give us a follow so you don’t miss out on any of the fun!

It was a rainy, wet and cold day in Tokyo but that didn’t stop us from heading to Akihabara for a meeting with a friend before hitting the streets of Akiba to see how it all lights up at night! And we have our first mini giveaway in this vlog update!!

We already know that Akihabara is Ground Zero for all things otaku, right?

Well, now there’s a new store opening up from a very popular chain. Animate has its main store in Ikebukuro, seen as a more female friendly part of Tokyo, catering for the female otaku. But they now have a new store opening up in Akihabara as of June 2016. The new store boasts 7 floors of oatku goodness and is also known as “AKIBA Girls Station”. What separates this store from the others in Akihabara, which tends to be more male-centric, is that the anime/manga are going to be geared more towards their female audience, much like in Ikebukuro. It’s also conveniently located very close to the JR Akihabara station, only about 5 minutes away.

Remember a while ago I mentioned that I was going to introduce a new cosplay segment? Well, here it is!! Presenting the latest addition to japandaman.com, the Cosplayer of the Month! I thought for a while which cosplayer I should spotlight first and I couldn’t go past my all time favourite number one cosplayer, Vampy Bit Me!

I love her creations, they’re so incredibly diverse with a level of detail not seen everywhere. From video game vixens to anime and Japanese pop culture characters, Vampy knows no bounds and it clearly shows with her creative skill. IMO, she also does the BEST Morrigan cosplay I’ve ever seen. I should add that Morrigan from the Darkstalkers series is my all time favourite character from anywhere!

And on a side note, I was lucky enough to meet Vampy (Linda Le) at Tokyo Game Show 2014. She generously gave me 5 minutes of her time for a quick interview which I’ve included below, along with a gallery of some her cosplays and model shots which I really like!

For those of you who don’t know, apart from running this fine site, I also host and produce a TV show on community TV called It’s Japan, Man! I’ll provide the relevant links at the bottom. We were recently in Sydney covering SMASH! and were lucky enough to get some great interviews with a few of the special guests such as Japanese cosplayer Kaname, musical group Garnidelia and otaku world leader and comrade to everyone across the globe, Danny Choo!

Danny has been a huge source of inspiration to me and this site wouldn’t even exist in the first place. It was Danny’s own site that gave me the confidence and motivation to start japandaman.com and then a few years later to start the TV show It’s Japan, Man!

Here’s a few pics of me meeting Danny and exchanging business cards with him. Needless to say, this was a massive highlight for me. Not just for SMASH! but as a massive tick on my life highlight!

Meeting Danny Choo!

Made sure to be smiling 🙂

Getting ready to exchange business cards as Mirai watches on.

And the exchange is complete!

Danny’s business card!

Here are those links for It’s Japan, Man! Hope you give us a follow, a Like, watch our videos or whatever way you choose to say hello and interact with us 🙂 Thanks!

Comiket 86 (Comic Market 86) was held recently in Japan and one of the more eye catching parts of it would have to be the cosplay from the many public attendees. NETAGEO has put together these two amazing videos showing off the cosplay for your viewing. Enjoy!

Here’s a look at the ever changing landscape of Akihabara, the Ground Zero land for otakus around the world. This gives you a look at the current ads doing the rounds in various stores, window displays and billboards around Akiba for the month of March, 2014.

Here’s some cool little phone charm straps that are available in Japan in late July. The phone charms have various characters from the Streetfighter universe in a praying at your feet position. The characters are Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Dhalsim, Guile, E. Honda, Blanka, and Zangief. You can see below what they look like and each one will retail for ¥300.

Hey otakus, hope you all remembered to tune in to our YouTube channel for the latest episode of It’s Japan, Man! In case you haven’t seen it or are wondering what it’s all about, this is out show where we take a look at the otaku lifestyle in Australia. There are interviews, cosplay features, gaming, anime reviews and more! You can catch it episode 5 below.